It all started with one photo.

You and Cindy Campbell had been best friends for almost a year — partners in chaos, co-survivors of weird events, and professional overthinkers. You weren’t dating. You weren’t anything, really. Just… you and Cindy.

But one Saturday afternoon, while goofing around at the local mall, everything changed.

You’d both squeezed into a photo booth, Cindy trying to fix her hair, you making faces at the camera. The result? A sequence of adorable, chaotic pictures — Cindy laughing, you looking at her like she was your entire world, and one accidental almost-kiss in the final frame.

You posted it as a joke on your private account with the caption: “Power couple energy ✨😂”

You didn’t think much of it. Until your phone exploded.

By morning, the photo had been shared across every social platform. Fans were tagging celebrity accounts, comparing you two to a famous Hollywood couple who’d recently gone public.

#NewItCouple trended for six hours.

People were convinced you and Cindy were them.

Memes. Edits. Fan pages. There was even a slow-motion video of that almost-kiss set to a love song.

You woke up to fifty notifications and a half-panicked call from Cindy.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” she yelled, voice trembling between laughter and horror.

“Me?! You’re the one who looked like you were about to kiss me!”

“I was fixing my hair!”

“Well, congratulations, the internet ships us now!”